I’ll admit: I used to be on Jesse’s side of the argument when he’d expound, “I agree that gun use should be controlled, but I don’t believe the government should be the one doing the controlling. I think control is the gun owner’s responsibility” (from his 2000 book Do I Stand Alone?). Well, after this recent string of heinous viciousness, or the “summer of gun violence” as our Democrat Senators are calling it, gun owners have lost the right to that responsibility. In a matter of two days, people were shot and killed in a Louisiana theatre, the seemingly safe streets of Pasadena and Studio City, and that very night, a gunman took a shot at the cops then ran through my parking lot, right below the window where I sleep, scaring the bejesus out of me. And I can’t be the only one who is scared.

"The responsibility of owning something as dangerous as a gun shouldn’t be taken lightly, which is why the Founding Fathers included it as an Amendment."

The responsibility of owning something as dangerous as a gun shouldn’t be taken lightly, which is why the Founding Fathers included it as an Amendment. When you believe someone has earned your trust and developed to a level of maturity befitting a major responsibility, you give that person the right to own or do something grownup as a reward. And when that someone mows down a schoolyard of children, a church full of parishioners, or a Luby’s dinner crowd, you take away their toys and their responsibility.

Yes, I am going to call a gun a “toy,” because I believe, in its modern day usage, a firearm is a frivolous, ultimately unnecessary object that has led to more headaches that any other item that could be considered a “tool.” For example, do you really need a gun? Really? Are you fending off bears? Or the British? When was the last time another country invaded the U.S.? The War of 1812? So you need it for hunting animals for your dinner? Odd choice of the word – “need” – when there’s every major convenience available to circumvent your “need” to slay living things for your supper plate. Oh, you want your gun, because it’s “cool”? Again… TOY! Furthermore, didn’t every last one of you play with toy guns as a kid? What message does that send but that THIS TOY GUN IS A TOY?

"You ostensibly become the terrorist; you're stockpiling guns to keep at bay, while you plot your own demise due to an early heart attack."

Of course, there is the worthy home protection argument, but if you live your life planning for tragedy, you prepare yourself for fear and anxiety. You ostensibly become the terrorist; you're stockpiling guns to keep at bay, while you plot your own demise due to an early heart attack. Anyway, if you buy a handgun to safeguard your home, the robbers will have shotguns. So you grab a machine gun, and now they bring bazookas. Now you have a surface-to-air missile launcher, but those tricky sons of bitches come strapped with a plutonium nuke. Didn’t we learn anything from Dr. Seuss’ The Butter Battle Book (and also, the Cold War).

My point is this: we’re the country of gun-slingin’ cowboys, who would rather go to bed shakin’ in our boots with a revolver under our pillows rather than deal with the clear and present danger: the easy access and mass proliferation of steely death machines that fit under a pillow. Imagine how much collective oxygen will be preserved if we just end the tired, cyclical debate on guns and make the steps toward doing something about them instead. Or we can have it your way and just go back to blaming this all on the Confederate Flag. It’s your choice.

As cohost of the political commentary series, Jesse Ventura's Off the Grid, Alex Logan is The Body's body man. Alex and the former governor, action star, wrestler, and everything else in between, tackle the headlines of the week with an uncensored and independent spirit as we hold the two parties' feet to the fire.
A deserter of Dayton, Ohio, Alex graduated from the University of Southern California Film School with a degree in Writing for Screen and TV. Alex has assisted in the booking of live acts for the Creative Artists Agency; written jokes, sketches and stunts for MTV and producer Johnny Knoxville; developed treatments and scripts for Anonymous Content and Mark Gordon Productions; and co-founded the Improv Olympic West’s headliner sketch group, The Mutiny, who play sold out shows around LA and at the Chicago and San Francisco Sketch Fests, as well as producing numerous videos for the front pages of YouTube, College Humor, and Funny Or Die.
He did a stint as Editor and Technical Producer on Larry King’s Hulu talk show before partnering with Larry and Jesse to co-create Off the Grid. In the first season, Alex co-headed the entire production, writing, producing, and cohosting over 150 episodes. And he's back for Season Two, now serving as producer and host of a series of Man on the Street field pieces called, On the Grid. He also wrote this professional bio with his own two hands.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.